The City of Cape Town’s Executive Mayor, Alderman Dan Plato, as well as the City’s Mayoral Committee Member for Human Settlements, Councillor Malusi Booi, and other dignitaries celebrated with the final beneficiaries of its R85 million Masiphumelele Phase 4 housing project.
This housing project has seen some of Cape Town’s most vulnerable residents from the approved target areas, including Masiphumelele’s wetland informal settlement, become first-time property owners. It has also created employment opportunities for the local community during the construction period. Some of those who received their keys today include Mr Themba Solani, Ms Sheila Sizani and Ms Victoria Komani.
The selection of beneficiaries for housing projects has been done in accordance with the City’s Allocation Policy and the City’s Housing Needs Register to ensure that housing opportunities are allocated to qualifying beneficiaries in a fair and equitable manner that prevents queue-jumping. The beneficiary target areas are determined in consultation with the community’s representatives, and submitted to a Housing Allocation Committee for approval.
‘We celebrate today with the final 34 beneficiaries of this project as they start a new and exciting chapter in their lives. This project began in 2017 and is now home to 227 qualifying beneficiaries and their families. It is always rewarding to see a project being successfully completed after many years of hard work. The City thanks the project teams for the hard work and dedication in helping us provide homes to the beneficiaries. We remain committed to handing over new housing opportunities to beneficiaries in areas across the metro to create opportunities for them and to enable redress,’ said Mayor Plato.
Construction work on site is being carried out by the City’s Human Settlements Directorate, in conjunction with the elected People’s Housing Process (PHP) Support Organisation and their appointed contractor. The City is monitoring the project closely to prevent unlawful land occupation to avoid the loss of opportunities for already identified beneficiaries at this project and at others across the metro.
The R85 million expenditure includes money allocated for the bulk earthworks; internal civil engineering services for the provision of water, sanitation and roads; electricity reticulation and street lighting; and formal, beneficiary-owned houses.
‘This project is a good example of what we can achieve for our beneficiaries and how we can contribute to improving their lives. Broad community support as well as the support from our beneficiaries and especially the Masiphumelele Phase 4 Project Steering Committee and the PHP Support Organisation made this progress possible. Thank you to all involved for their hard work and absolute dedication in service of our beneficiaries. It is only through working together and finding new, collaborative and innovative ways of working that we will be able to tackle the shortfall in the development of housing opportunities in the metro, especially for those earning below R22 000 per month. This is exactly why we have released our draft Human Settlements Strategy, which is currently out for public participation. We encourage the public to read through the proposed interventions and to have their say.
‘This housing project, as with all City projects, is absolutely dependent on community support and cooperation. We want to thank the community for working with the City over the years to ensure this project has become a successful reality. There are many challenges in Masiphumelele but only with the support of the community are we able to improve the living conditions of our residents,’ said Councillor Booi.